Contents

Walkthrough

The scene begins with the sounds of sado-masochism in a room aboard the Platypus. Niko Bellic begins knocking on the door, attempting to call Dave Bosoy out of the room. Another person, Hossan Ramzy, calls to Niko, telling him to forget about Dave because they need to prepare for the docking. As Niko and Hossan discuss the "Land of Opportunity" and what are the plans, the ship is shown nearing the Statue of Happiness. Niko tells Hossan of his cousin Roman's successes: sports cars, condos, women, etc.,while a a cook inspecting a diamond then mixing it into his recipe and a group of men packing heroin into a car are seen. The Platypus docks, and Niko and the other crew members depart the ship, and many are greeted by friends and family, until the only one left is Niko.

Roman finally arrives and greets Niko with a hug. Roman tells Niko he is very happy for seeing him and comments he is drunk. Niko then asks him why he's driving a taxi instead of a sports car, to which he mumbles that his other car's in the shop. He's too drunk to drive himself, so he gets in the passenger seat and asks Niko to drive them to his apartment in Hove Beach. Niko begins driving towards the apartment while he and Roman discuss about the terrorist threats, the inmigrants in the city and Roman's cab depot. When they arrive to the apartment, Niko realizes Roman has been lying, as both enter the tiny place and Niko complaints to Roman about the fake e-mails he sent. Roman explains him he just needed someone he could do well, and the two start discussing about life at their old country.

Later, Roman rushes off to get his taxi back to the taxi firm that he owns, and tells Niko to meet him there. As he leaves, he receives a nasty call from someone he calls Vlad.

Reward

The player gets $25, earns the "Off The Boat" achievement/trophy, and the next mission is unlocked.

It seems that Roman's Taxi in this mission has less acceleration. This is presumably because this is the first car driven by new players that are not yet familiar with the driving style (especially those familiar with the controls used in the GTA III era games, as opposed to the different controls used in GTA IV).

The mission is very similar to the opening of the Rockstar game Red Dead Redemption as both protagonists arrive by boat.

The song in Roman's car will change if you skip the cutscene. But it will always be in Vladivostok FM

When Roman is talking to Niko about the loss of his native language for English, he says "Ahh, you'll be fine. Better than my Serbian.", possibly confirming that Niko and Roman are in fact ethnic Serbs.

Niko's suitcase in the cutscene is Burberry tailored, having the unique tartan pattern. This is one of the few real-life brands that are existent within the game.

Unlike previous GTA games, the Grand Theft Auto IV introduction (showing the logo) is made during the first cutscene instead of before starting the game.